A buffet is a system of serving meals in which food is placed in a public area where the diners generally serve themselves. Buffets are offered at various places including hotels, restaurants and many social events. The essential feature of the various buffet formats is that the diners can directly view the food and immediately select which dishes they wish to consume, and usually also can decide how much food they take. Buffets are effective for serving large numbers of people at once.
A common problem encountered at social gatherings that include buffet style meals such as picnics, parties, and receptions where food is served while the guests are standing is the difficulty of holding both a dinner plate of food and another plate of food, such as a salad or bread plate, while at the same time keeping a hand free with which to serve themselves. Often diners will resort to setting down one (1) of the plates on any nearby flat surface, or will awkwardly try to hold all their plates in the same hand. Therefore, a suitable solution is required.
Various attempts have been made to solve problems found in caddy art. Among these are found in: U.S. Pat. No. 5,803,305 to Perlis; U.S. Pat. No. 6,149,027 to Rathjen; and U.S. Pat. No. 8,272,512 to Silfred. These prior art references are representative of plate caddy systems.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the invention as claimed. Thus, a need exists for a reliable plate caddy system, and to avoid the above-mentioned problems.